Paul Langheinrich (1895–1979) was a German

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their Lineage (anthropology), lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family ...

who saved a large number of German records that might have otherwise been destroyed from 1945 to 1953. His records were the base of the German Records Collection of the

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as well as the main initial component of the Deutsche Zentralstelle fur Genealogie. Many of the records Langheinrich gathered were hid in mines and other out of the way places in East Germany. He microfilmed many records that he was not able to move, and most of those were destroyed. Langheinrich was born in Oberplanitz in the state of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

then part of the German Empire. He was a Latter-day Saint. He had joined

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(LDS Church) on November 28, 1919. Because of his membership in the church he became interested in genealogy. He was heavily involved in collecting genealogical records between the end of World War II and the end of 1953 when he emigrated to

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

. When he began his efforts to gather up and preserve the records, he was serving as a counselor in the

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of the LDS Church's East German

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Sources

*Raymond S. Wright. "Langheinrich, Paul". in Arnold K. Garr, et al., ed. ''The Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History'' (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000) p. 640. *Kahlile Mehr
"The Langheinrich Legacy: Record-Gathering in Post-War Germany"
''

Ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...

'', June 1981, p. 23 * Allen, James B., Jessie L. Embry and Kahlile B. Mehr. ''Hearts Turned to the Fathers''. Provo: BYU Studies, 1995. *Langheinrich, Armin Paul, Langheinrich, Frank-Armin. "Langheinrich Family and Genealogical Records (not published)".
article on East German recordsAguste Vachon, Claire Boudreau and Daniel Cogne. ''Genealogica And Heraldica'' (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1998) p. 94.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langheinrich, Paul 1895 births 1979 deaths Converts to Mormonism German genealogists German leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Genealogy and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints East German emigrants to the United States Writers from Salt Lake City People from Zwickau German male non-fiction writers